"Mister!" said Melky. "A word--in private!"
Yada turned on his interrupter with the swiftness of a snake, and for a second his white teeth showed themselves in an unmistakable snarl, and a savage gleam came into his dark eyes. Both snarl and gleam passed as quickly as they had come, and the next instant he was smiling--as blandly as ever.
"Oh, yes!" he said. "It is you--how do you do? Perhaps you are going my way--I can give you a lift--Yes?"
Melky drew his man away a yard or two, and lowered his voice to a whisper.
"Mister!" he said, with a note of deep confidence which made Yada look at him with a sudden sense of fear. "Mister!--I wouldn't go no way at all if I was you--just now. You're in danger, mister--you shoved your head into the lions' den when you walked in where I've just seen you! Deep, deep is them fellows, mister!--they're having you on toast. I know where you're thinking of going, mister, in that cab. Don't go--take my tip!"
"How do you know where I'm going?" demanded Yada.
"I was looking over Levendale's shoulder when he wrote that bit of a cheque, mister," answered Melky, in his quietest accents. "You're off to his bank to turn it into cash. And--if you walk into that bank--well, you'll never walk out again, alone! Mister!--they're going to collar you there--there's a trap laid for you!"
Melky was watching Yada's face out of his own eye-corners, and he saw the olive-tinted skin pale a little, and the crafty eyes contract. And on the instant he pursued his tactics and his advantage. He had purposely steered the Japanese into a more crowded part of the street, and now he edged him into a bye-alley which led to a rookery of narrow bye-streets beyond. He felt that Yada was yielding--oppressed by a fear of the unknown. But suddenly Yada paused--drawing back from the hand which Melky had kept on his arm.
"What are you after?" he demanded. "What is your game, eh? You think to alarm me!--what do you want?"
"Nothing unreasonable, mister," answered Melky. "You'll easily satisfy me. Game? Come, now, mister--I know your game! Bank first--to get some ready--then somewhere to pick up a bit of luggage--then, a railway station. That's it, ain't it, now? No blooming good, mister--they're ready for you the minute you walk into that bank! If they don't take you then, they'll only wait to follow you to the station. Mister!--you ain't a cat's chance!--you're done--if you don't make it worth my while to help you! See?"